Adam Creighton (journalist)
{{short description|Australian journalist and economics editor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Adam Creighton is an Australian journalist and the Washington correspondent for The Australian.{{Cite news|date=15 January 2021|title=Adam Creighton heads to US for Washington role|work=The Australian|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/adam-creighton-heads-to-us-for-washington-role/news-story/93477452c61d54908506fb3c3ed9889a|access-date=13 April 2021}}
He was previously the economics editor.{{Cite web|title=Adam Creighton {{!}} Author at The Australian|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/Adam%20Creighton|access-date=2020-02-20|work=The Australian}} He has also written for The Wall Street Journal{{cite web |title=Adam Creighton |url=https://www.wsj.com/news/author/adam-creighton|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=21 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215015459/https://www.wsj.com/news/author/adam-creighton |archive-date=15 February 2020}} and The Economist, and has appeared on the ABC panel show Q+A.{{cite web |title=Zali's Political Slalom |url=https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/2019-05-08/11363662|website=Q+A|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=21 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024204145/https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/2019-05-08/11363662 |archive-date=24 October 2020 |date=5 August 2019}} Creighton has received several awards for his journalism and writing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.prosper.org.au/2017/09/ej-craigie-award-winner-adam-creighton/|title=EJ Craigie Award Winner – Adam Creighton|website=Prosper Australia|last=Fitzgerald|first=Karl|access-date=2020-02-20}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/adam-creighton-wins-citi-journalism-award-for-excellence/news-story/b0147506b205a6d342dc1db2719023cd|title=Adam Creighton wins Citi Journalism Award for Excellence|date=30 April 2015|work=The Australian}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.citigroup.com/australia/awards/previous.html|title=Citi Journalism Awards for Excellence {{!}} Previous Journalism Award winners|website=citigroup.com|access-date=2020-02-20}}
Creighton holds a Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours from the University of New South Wales, and Master of Philosophy in Economics from Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar, and was a journalist-in-residence at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2019. He is also a contributor to Sky News Australia{{Cite web|url=https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6133263286001|title=General Motors ultimately 'doesn't care about Australian jobs'|website=Sky News Australia|access-date=2020-02-20}} and is a member of the Advisory Council of the National Archives of Australia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/our-organisation/advisory-council/mr-adam-creighton|title=Mr Adam Creighton|publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date=2020-02-20}} The Institute of Public Affairs appointed Creighton as senior fellow and chief economist in January 2025.{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/adam-creighton-2025/105065216|access-date=28 March 2025|title=Adam Creighton|website=Q+A|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}
Creighton has previously worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia, Centre for Independent Studies and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. In 2010, he served as a senior economic adviser to then-Australian opposition leader, Tony Abbott.
Career and views
Creighton is regarded as holding generally conservative views and has been described by Jason Wilson of The Guardian as an "arch-neoliberal",{{Cite news|last=Wilson|first=Jason|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/03/the-rightwing-reaction-to-queensland-shows-they-want-to-rule-not-govern|title=The rightwing reaction to Queensland shows they want to rule, not govern|date=2015-02-03|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-02-20}} though Creighton contests that definition and describes his views as "old DLP Labor sprinkled with a bit of libertarianism"{{cite web |last1=Creighton |first1=Adam |title=Confessions of an 'arch neoliberal' |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/confessions-of-an-arch-neoliberal/news-story/f333235b55c672bf966be517794c6f8f |work=The Australian|access-date=29 December 2020 |date=29 December 2020}} and points to his stance in favour of land and inheritance taxes, a higher top marginal tax rate for very high incomes, tougher bank and pharmaceutical regulation, abolishing negative gearing and a universal age pension, and his advocacy against privatisation of energy markets.{{cite news|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/user-beware-wikipedia-has-fallen-for-groupthink/news-story/c76838b96f734e1266ec7cebcd15d9d7|url-access=subscription|title=User beware: Wikipedia has fallen for groupthink|date=7 August 2023|newspaper=The Australian}} Creighton opposes increased action on climate change by the Australian government, and has warned of the lack of precision of climate and economic modelling, drawing on work by economist Robert Pindyck.{{cite web |last1=Creighton |first1=Adam |title=Deloitte climate report more a fearmongering manifesto |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/deloitte-climate-report-more-a-fearmongering-manifesto/news-story/88ce6bd86467ae249e17688c6519a435|work=The Australian|access-date=21 December 2020 |date=18 November 2020}}
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as the economics editor for The Australian, Creighton was an ardent critic of government-implemented lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19,{{cite web |last1=Creighton |first1=Adam |title=We may be over-reacting to an unremarkable coronavirus |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/we-may-be-overreacting-to-an-unremarkable-coronavirus/news-story/3d78be873fac364af49f5fc949e3eaeb|work=The Australian|access-date=21 December 2020|date=14 April 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Creighton |first1=Adam |title=Coronavirus: We should kiss these lockdowns goodbye |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/coronavirus-we-should-kiss-these-lockdowns-goodbye/news-story/61ef8a4b068abf59ada7d7a6140e036f|work=The Australian|access-date=21 December 2020|date=18 August 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Creighton |first1=Adam |title=The COVID-19 panic is unnecessary – it is much less threatening than we think |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-covid19-panic-is-unnecessary-it-is-much-less-threatening-than-we-think/news-story/b9246d82046820000686a18ec03e2580|work=The Australian|access-date=21 December 2020|date=1 September 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Creighton |first1=Adam |title=Coronavirus: lockdown 'hysteria is ruining 10 million lives' |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/economics/coronavirus-lockdown-hysteria-is-ruining-10-million-lives/news-story/fd5307f58302cf1ab928decb07b2619c|work=The Australian|access-date=29 December 2020|date=13 April 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Creighton |first1=Adam |title=Under 60, in good health? Crossing the road is more risky |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/jobless-disease-a-greater-threat-to-far-more-people/news-story/108156dcd6328dcefd0589ab5d4dbd45|work=The Australian|access-date=29 December 2020|date=21 April 2020}} and praised Sweden's less restrictive approach to slowing the spread of the virus.{{cite web |last1=Creighton |first1=Adam |title=Coronavirus: Sweden defied zealots and never met its Waterloo |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/coronavirus-sweden-defied-zealots-and-never-met-its-waterloo/news-story/2001500708970a7cf74010f4209af0ba|work=The Australian|access-date=21 December 2020 |date=6 October 2020}} Creighton's defence of the Swedish government response to the COVID-19 pandemic drew criticism from other sections of the media, with Crikey's Guy Rundle claiming that Creighton's columns were "a compendium of false comparisons",{{cite web |last1=Rundle |first1=Guy |title=The right's attacks on Victorian health official show their failure and desperation |url=https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/05/01/rundle-annaliese-van-diemen/ |website=Crikey|access-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028091112/https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/05/01/rundle-annaliese-van-diemen/ |archive-date=28 October 2020|date=1 May 2020}} and The Guardian{{'}}s Jason Wilson writing that Creighton's claims were "flatly contradicted by published epidemiological research",{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Jason |title=Sky News Australia is increasingly pushing conspiracy theories to a global audience online |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/21/sky-news-australia-is-increasingly-pushing-conspiracy-theories-to-a-global-audience-online|work=The Guardian|access-date=21 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220223515/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/21/sky-news-australia-is-increasingly-pushing-conspiracy-theories-to-a-global-audience-online |archive-date=20 December 2020 |date=21 December 2020}} citing a paper that did not mention Sweden.{{cite journal|author1=Nina Haug|author2=Lukas Geyrhofer|author3=Alessandro Londei|author4=Elma Dervic|author5=Amélie Desvars-Larrive|author6= Vittorio Loreto|author7=Beate Pinior|author8= Stefan Thurner|author9=Peter Klimek|title=Ranking the effectiveness of worldwide COVID-19 government interventions|journal=Nature Human Behaviour|number=4|date=16 November 2020|volume=4 |pages=1303–1312|doi=10.1038/s41562-020-01009-0|doi-access=free|hdl=11573/1708441|hdl-access=free}}
Creighton has referred to strict lockdowns as an affront to personal liberty and reflective of what he calls "health fascism".{{cite web |last1=Creighton |first1=Adam |title=Personal liberty sacrificed at the altar of Covid public safety |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/exclusives/personal-liberty-sacrificed-at-the-altar-of-covid-public-safety/news-story/158ba49b6b01bdf2ab70dbceac3974b5|work=The Australian|date=19 December 2020}} In April 2020, Creighton signed a joint letter with several dozen people from academia, business and media, calling for a scaling-back of Australia's lockdowns by May.{{cite web |last1=Cranston |first1=Matthew |title=Economists duel it out on when to lift restrictions |url=https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/economists-duel-it-out-on-when-to-lift-restrictions-20200424-p54mv5|work=Australian Financial Review|access-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507010238/https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/economists-duel-it-out-on-when-to-lift-restrictions-20200424-p54mv5 |archive-date=7 May 2020 |date=24 April 2020}} He has argued for open debate and free speech, when commenting on opposition to The Joe Rogan Experience, writing: "It should be OK to have, and to air, a different view from public health officials, especially eminent scientists with long track records of publication, right or wrong."{{Cite news|last=Creighton|first=Adam|date=7 February 2022|title=Rogan ban a sign of elite's reluctance to allow free speech|work=The Australian|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/rogan-ban-a-sign-of-elites-reluctance-to-allow-free-speech/news-story/294cbae2a26177e0d6b32a129757334c}}
Publications
- {{cite book|last1=Creighton|first1=Adam|last2=Piggott|first2=John|chapter=The Structure and Performance of Mandated Pensions|title=The Oxford Handbook of Pensions and Retirement Income|editor1=Gordon L. Clark|editor1-link=Gordon L. Clark|editor2=Alicia H. Munnell|editor2-link=Alicia Munnell|editor3=J. Michael Orszag|year=2006|isbn=978-019157720-8|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199272464.003.0013|ref=none}}
- {{Cite journal|last1=Creighton|first1=Adam|last2=Gower|first2=Luke|last3=Richards|first3=Anthony R.|title=The impact of rating changes in Australian financial markets|journal=Pacific-Basin Finance Journal|volume=15|issue=1|date=January 2007|pages=1–17|doi=10.1016/j.pacfin.2006.04.003|ref=none|author-mask=with}}
- {{cite journal|last=Creighton|first=Adam|title=Taxing private equity|url=https://www.hoover.org/research/taxing-private-equity|journal=Policy Review|issue=148|date=April 2008|pages=19–33|ref=none|author-mask=1}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Twitter|Adam_Creighton}}
- {{IMDb name|nm8449281}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Creighton, Adam}}
Category:University of New South Wales alumni
Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century Australian economists
Category:21st-century Australian journalists